I got up pretty early and took a banana from the table. Can't forget breakfast again or I'll starve to death just like yesterday. Instead of going down the stairs normally, I decided to do a little something daring. I slid down the rails of the stairs and jumped off right before I could hit the ball decoration at the end.
I made my way to the KFP while eating the banana. There wasn't a trashcan anywhere in sight, so I had to hold on to the peeling a little while.
Once I arrived at the KFP, I immediately looked for a nearby garbage can. Luckily, there was one right next to the doors of the KFP. I disposed of the peeling immediately and waited patiently, next to the doors.
I waited for hours and hours. I was starting to feel a little frustrated on how late Kiara was. All of that changed when my phone started ringing. I answered the phone and I was greeted with deafening greeting.
"KIKERIKIII~" Kiara greeted over the phone. "Good morning, Kyou. Are you coming to work today?"
"Wait! The restaurant's open? You're in the KFP?" I questioned.
"Yup~" Kiara chirped. Well fuck me, there isn't a single sign to tell whether the KFP's open or not. I stopped complaining to myself and entered the KFP. There I saw Kiara lifting a box.
"C'mon Kyou. Get changed and help me out with these," Kiara ordered me. I went to the changing room without further questions.
"Oy hurry up, Kyou!" Kiara called out.
"Yes Tenchou! Coming," I replied. As soon as I finished buttoning up my vest, I ran outside of the changing room to Kiara. I immediately rushed to Kiara's aid with the box she was carrying.
"I'll take care of this," I told Kiara as I placed my hands in position.
"Ok~" Kiara let go of the box, putting all its weight to mine, and holy shit. This box wasn't a box but a boulder. Kiara pointed to where I was supposed place the box which was on the other side of the room.
"Doesn't sound too hard, right?" I thought to myself. Well I was wrong. The moment I took my first step towards my destination, I nearly slipped. I looked up and judging by how clean the floors are, they look like they've been recently mopped.
"This is gonna be a long day," I mumbled to myself as I cautiously walked to my destination. I finally arrived and placed the box down gently.
I heaved a sigh of relief and turned to see that there were ten more boxes. I heaved another sigh and made my way back to the boxes.
Kiara kept an eye on me while I did this hell of an errand. But whenever I looked at her, she'd have a bright smile on her face. It gave me a little bit of motivation to carry on, but those hell of a boxes would drain that motivation instantly.
I spent nearly the entire day moving those boxes and watching my step on the newly mopped floor. Once I placed down the last box, I dragged my lifeless body to the break room and threw myself onto the couch. I slowly closed my eyes and drifted off to sleep.
But it all came to an end when I heard a loud burst on the door.
"Kyou! You can't be sleeping on the job. You still have work to do!" Kiara roared. It was a good five seconds of sleep, but unfortunately I'll be worked to death before I could finally rest.
I was ordered to organize everything in the storage room and clean it, if it needed cleaning. When I opened the storage room, I was greeted with more boxes, this time with their contents spilled out. The room's light was sufficient enough for me to see the entire mess.
The contents that spilled out were burger buns, tomatoes, lettuces, and a mayonnaise jar that was now broken. The mayo was all over the floor which gave me more work than what I expected.
I placed all the fallen contents back in the fallen box only to find out that the box's contents didn't even match with fallen contents. The box's contents were all burger buns. Where the hell did the others come from?
"This should be quick. As long as there are labels on the boxes, I can place them back where they should belong," I said to myself. Problem number two now arose. There weren't any labels on the boxes. That fire in me got smothered once again. I don't know when all of this work will just end before I die of exhaustion.
I spent the rest of the day in the storage room, putting labels on the boxes, and organizing them alphabetically. I wore rubber gloves and picked up the broken pieces of glass from the mayo jar. I threw away the entire jar and the broken pieces in the trash outside of the storage room. I know that was a lot of mayo, but I don't know how long it was on the floor. I grabbed a mop and mopped the mayo stain on the floor. I placed the mop back in the janitor's closet and closed the door to the storage room.
It was closing time. Finally! I could get some rest from all that painful work. I waved Kiara off before making my way back to the apartment. I didn't stop at the local convenience store. I needed to rest my weary body.
I ram into the door which swings open. I gotta remember to lock my door or I could get robbed. I closed the door behind me and dragged my body to bed. I didn't wanna bother with dinner coz I was too tired. I slept the entire evening without eating dinner.
####
I woke up five minutes before Kiara called me up. I prepared a sandwich of peanut butter and and sliced banana. I ate the sandwich on my way to work. Not gonna lie, I didn't expect the combination to work, but it did.
However, that sandwich only kept me satisfied for half of my trip. I regret not eating dinner last night and now I'm suffering again like how I did during my first day.
I used up my remaining energy to run to the KFP. It was awkward and somewhat stupid, but hey it got me to work on time.
I greeted Kiara with a bright smile on my face, masking the fact that I was starving to death. I rushed to the break room and hurriedly entered. Luckily, the break room is always stored with snacks, and also has a vending machine.
I grabbed two granola bars from the basket of snacks on the table and opened both bars. I took huge alternating chomps out of the two bars until my mouth was stuffed with them. I swallowed everything which caused me to wheeze.
I rushed to the water dispenser and hurriedly grabbed a cup. I pressed and held the button to fill up my crumpled paper cup with water. I downed the entire cup to flush all the bits of granola that got stuck in my throat.
"Kyou! What's taking you so long? We have work to do," Kiara yelled through the door.
"Yeah, almost done! I just wore my uniform the wrong way," I lied to buy me some time.
I hastily buttoned up the vest of my uniform and casually walked out of the break room like I hadn't nearly choked myself with granola bits.
I saw Kiara with her arms folded and a pout on her face.
"C'mon Kyou, you have some work to do," Kiara got behind me and pushed me out of the kitchen towards the counter.
I stood behind the counter while Kiara stood next to me. She was happily humming to a tune while we both stood behind the counter. I don't know what "work" Kiara was talking about but I can't question her too much.
We stood for several minutes until I had to lean on the counter to support myself from falling from boredom. We watched several people walk past the KFP like it didn't even exist.
It was pretty weird for me to see people walk past a world famous fast food restaurant. But Kiara didn't seem to care, I turned to her and she was still humming, despite watching dozens of potential customers walk by.
I let out a yawn, knowing we wouldn't get any customers. But, I was wrong. The doors of the KFP swing open. There entered a green-haired girl with twigs growing from the side of her head. She had a fancy white dress with some blue and gold-like decorations. She had a golden apple floating on her right hand.
"FAUNA!!!" Kiara yelled with excitement. She jumped out of the counter and rushed towards the green-haired girl, named Fauna. She was quicker than last time so I couldn't stop her.
"Hello~" Fauna greeted. Kiara locked her in a tight embrace, squeezing the life out of Fauna. I stood there, awkwardly.
"Oh, Fauna, by the way, meet my new employee," Kiara pointed at me.
"Oh hello~" Fauna smiled softly at me. I awkwardly smiled back and waved at her.
"C'mon don't be shy. Introduce yourself," Kiara urged me.
"Uhm... Kyou... Kyou Hitsoka," I scratched the back of my head and looked somewhere else.
"I'm Fauna, Ceres Fauna. Nice to meet you," Fauna smiled.
I couldn't reply back. Her cute smile made me look dorky.
"So what brings you here, Fauna?" Kiara questioned.
"Oh you know, I was just looking around. Then I saw the KFP. So I thought I could drop by and say hello," Fauna replied. "How about you, Kiara? How have you been?"
"Oh I've been great!" Kiara exclaimed. The two girls giggled and suddenly turned their attention to me. They looked at me like children wanting ice cream.
I scratched the back of my head and averted my eyes away from their gaze. The two girls chuckled. Kiara slapped my back which made straighten up a little.
"C'mon, Kyou. Since you're new around here, why not talk about it to Fauna," Kiara urged me to converse with Fauna.
"But Tenchou, I have nothing to ask at the moment," I replied. I was so flustered but the two chuckled at my reaction. I sighed and leaned on the counter.
"You're rather tall for someone here. Are you not from Takano?" Fauna questions me.
"I moved here recently," I answered.
"Oh, in that case. Enjoy your stay here in Takano. It's lovely here," Fauna remarks with a soft smile.
I awkwardly smiled back at Fauna. She's really sweet and cute. I hope I meet more people like her here.
"Well, I have to go now. It was good to see you Kiara, and nice meeting you, Kyou," Fauna got up from her seat and waved us goodbye as she walked out of the doors.
I sighed in relief, she left without ordering anything. Also, she left just in time for closing. Kiara was waiting for me outside the premises so she could lock up the restaurant.
Kiara closes both doors and inserts a key into the keyhole of the doors. She twists and turns the key until she could no longer pull the doors open. She pulls the key out and places it in her pockets, unlike when she got the key from under her beret.
I already bade farewell to Kiara and was on my way back to my apartment. However, Kiara had different plans.
"Kyou!" Kiara called me over. I stopped and turned around. "Why don't you come walk with me?"
That's a pretty weird offer, coming from Kiara. I mean it sounds nice, but I don't know where she suddenly got the idea. I don't wanna be rude or anything so might as well just accept the offer.
"Uhmm... sure?" I shrugged my shoulders and waited for Kiara to come to me.
"Yay~!" Kiara cheered as she walked to me.
I shoved my hands in my pockets and sighed as Kiara approached me. Kiara pulled me on my arm which made me lose my balance a bit, but I caught myself and started following Kiara.
The night was pretty calm as we took our stroll. A few people walked past us and they didn't recognize Kiara.
She's pretty much famous for owning one of the world's largest fast food chains and hosting her very own talk show. But it seemed weird that no one would ask for her autograph or picture.
I didn't wanna consult Kiara about my observation since it might be pointless.
"So what do you think about Takano?" Kiara questioned me.
"Uhm... I think it's pretty great. The night's not too cold unlike where I came from," I answered.
Kiara chuckled. "What do you think about the people?"
"I find them pretty weird. The KFP's been pretty empty, aside from your friends. But I guess they can be nice people as well," I replied. "So far haven't seen anything wrong with the people, except for not acknowledging the KFP's presence."
"You keep thinking about the people not visiting the KFP. Don't worry about them. We can't do anything about it."
"Yeah, you're right..."
"What do you think about my friends?"
"They're pretty cool. They've been friendly so far."
There was a moment of silence as we continued to walk. I decided to break the silence.
"Tenchou... I want to tell you something," I scratched the back of my head.
"Hm? What is it?" Kiara asked.
"Uhm... uhh... you know what? Forget it. I probably forgot what I was gonna say," I excused myself.
"Oh okay," Kiara replied. "We're here!"
We finally arrived at Kiara's place. Her house was decently big, but I couldn't see everything 'cause of the gate.
"So I guess this is goodnight. It was nice talking to you," Kiara crossed the street to get to the front of her gate and waved me goodbye. I waved her back and made my way back to my apartment.
On my way home, I entered the local store to purchase a bag of chips as my dinner. I know it wasn't healthy, but I can't buy ingredients to cook food since I have other stuff that costs a lot.
As I ate the chips, I turned to see my apartment, not in a state I was expecting it to be in. The apartment was on fire.